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I think they'll do a lot of surgery on books four and five. The Mereen plot will probably be kept, but radically altered. The basic idea of Dany ruling a city and handling a terrorist campaign has a lot of potential, but needs to be much more dynamic for TV than it was in the book.

Also, they'll probably bring the climaxes that have been delayed until the sixth book forward into season six. So seasons five and six will basically cover Feast, Dance and maybe the first quarter or so of Winds.

Certainly some material from Feast and Dance will leak into the end of season four; short of massive padding there's no way the King's Landing material after the Red Wedding can be stretched across ten episodes. Ditto Arya, who has all of two post-RW chapters in A Storm of Swords. I wouldn't be surprised either if season four carries Bran through his first two chapters in Dance, all the way to finding the three-eyed crow; even with introducing the Reeds, his four chapters aren't going to fill twenty episodes. By contrast, his third and final Dance chapter could cover at least half a season by itself.

I'm less confident that the series is guaranteed to go the distance; it's expensive, it's only going to get more so, and the ratings will peak at some point. Season four will actually represent a comparatively tempting endpoint, since the closures originally planned to set up the five year gap are as close as the show is going to get to resolution any time soon. There also has to be some awareness that catching up to the books would be a very tricky proposition all around. Once we see what the rest of this year's ratings are like, it'll be easier to be optimistic.

Yeah, on past patterns Martin should be able to deliver Winds before the producers need it, if only just, but they're going to have to start taking breaks between seasons if they want to wait for A Dream of Spring. And that's without getting into the possibility of the series going to eight books...

Yeah, on past patterns Martin should be able to deliver Winds before the producers need it, if only just, but they're going to have to start taking breaks between seasons if they want to wait for A Dream of Spring. And that's without getting into the possibility of the series going to eight books...

And the producers said in one of their recent interviews that they're not going to take any breaks. They also said trying to stretch the show to 10 seasons would be too much.

I'm confident that the show will have an ending and won't be cancelled and left hanging, but there is a chance that HBO and the producers will evaluate the situation after the fourth season and decide to go their own way and wrap things up in five or six seasons.

The show won't take any breaks to wait for GRRM to finish the books. When the time comes, the producers will just write their version of the story, based on what Martin told them about the end of the book.

Sixth season is 2016, meaning the book has to be complete or almost complete at least a year before that, because the scripts are written even before the official renewal (Charles Dance said in one of his recent interviews that he already saw six scripts for fourth season). It is possible, but judging by GRRM's progress (or lack thereof), I don't think the book will be out by the end of 2014/beginning 2015.

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I'm not looking forward to that day at all, honestly. I want to experience the ending of this story through the books and while I certainly wouldn't watch any past-the-material-in-the-books seasons, it's going to be hard going to the Internet without people spoiling things left, right and center and then wondering, "But WILL this be what actually happens to Tyrion?!" or whatever.

I understand the practical reasons for this, but so far, I've been able enjoy the show as an enjoyable, simplified version of ASoIaF with some nice actors and pretty visuals, but when it gets to the point where it actually affects ASoIaF proper and starts disseminating information and plotlines for things I don't want to know about yet... I'm just, well, not looking forward to that day at all.

I'm not looking forward to that day at all, honestly. I want to experience the ending of this story through the books and while I certainly wouldn't watch any past-the-material-in-the-books seasons, it's going to be hard going to the Internet without people spoiling things left, right and center and then wondering, "But WILL this be what actually happens to Tyrion?!" or whatever.

I understand the practical reasons for this, but so far, I've been able enjoy the show as an enjoyable, simplified version of ASoIaF with some nice actors and pretty visuals, but when it gets to the point where it actually affects ASoIaF proper and starts disseminating information and plotlines for things I don't want to know about yet... I'm just, well, not looking forward to that day at all.

I agree with all of this. I was wondering recently how book virgins manage to avoid spoilers, and then it occurred to me that one day I might be in their shoes. The show isn't going to include the things that make me care about A Song of Ice and Fire-- partly because by its nature it can't, partly because Benioff and Weiss don't want to-- so getting any aspect of the ending from it would be disappointing. But I'll live; it's all just entertainment, obviously. And maybe getting spoiled on the broad details might make it easier to appreciate the nuances when (if) Martin gets there.

I agree with all of this. I was wondering recently how book virgins manage to avoid spoilers, and then it occurred to me that one day I might be in their shoes. The show isn't going to include the things that make me care about A Song of Ice and Fire-- partly because by its nature it can't, partly because Benioff and Weiss don't want to-- so getting any aspect of the ending from it would be disappointing. But I'll live; it's all just entertainment, obviously. And maybe getting spoiled on the broad details might make it easier to appreciate the nuances when (if) Martin gets there.

I agree it's not the end of the world. It's just slightly irritating from the perspective of someone who's truly come to appreciate ASoIaF as one of the best long term stories of our generation, and I don't want an adaptation spilling the beans anymore than I would've wanted a novelization of Sleeping in Light during Babylon 5 Season 4 or an audio play revealing Veidt kills NY with a giant squid and Dr. Manhattan kills Rorschach before Watchmen Issue 12 came out. Again, I get the practical reasons why this very well might happen; it just sits uncomfortably with me.

BTW if, and this is a big if, Martin passes away before completion of the series, that's another story entirely of course. Then, the series will be the only way I have to experience the ending of ASoIaF the way Martin wanted it to end (in broad strokes). Otherwise, not interested in post-book material seasons until I finish the proper story.

Thoros of Myr? Why wait until now? Why not introduce him at the Hands games?

Because casting an actor for a minor role in one episode and then not having him appear again until two years later isn't really a practical way of doing things. It's the same reason the featured extra who played Beric in season one wasn't brought back for season three.

Could have had a stuntman in a robe with a fire sword though, and probably would have been a stuntman anyway for the Tourney.